Reverse tensioning lever device for joining two borders to be united



Dec. 20, 1966 A. s. STEINBERG 3,292,222

REVERSE TENSIONING LEVER DEVICE FOR JOINING TWO BORDERS TO BE UNITED Filed May 6, 1965 a i; y d 1 18 L3 A dAl beRTo jvsJ-mmv Stein 6&3

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,292,222 REVERSE TENSIONING LEVER DEVICE FOR JOINING TWO BORDERS TO BE UNITED Adalberto S. Steinberg, Via Frassinetti 25, Milan, Italy Filed May 6, 1965, Ser. No. 453,678 Claims priority, application Italy, Sept. 1, 1964, 18,810/ 64 3 Claims. (Cl. 24-68) Lever actuated connecting devices for bringing close together and firmly joining two borders, for instance of boots, suitcases, bags and the like, are available in the trade in several more or less complicated, more or less etficient embodiments, but always comprising defects and inconveniences, that so far have not been overcome.

The present invention refers to a new connecting device of the lever actuated type, that appears particularly simple and efficient, as well as of low cost, due to the minimum number of parts constituting same, to the scope of connecting together two borders to be united.

The device according to the invention is characterized by a first class actuating lever having its mobile fulcrum guided between two vertical shoulders projecting from a base support secured on one of said borders to be joined together, said lever carrying at its resisting end at least one hook apt to be latched by a tensioning element fastened on the other border.

The attached drawing represents schematically in the way of a non-limiting example some embodiments of the tensioning and connecting device according to the invention. In the drawing:

FIGURE l represent a side view of the closed device;

FIGURE 2 shows a top view of same;

FIGURES 3 and 4 show separately the parts constituting one of the members of the device, and namely the base support secured to one of the borders, and the lever which in this instance carries an articulated tensioning element;

FIGURE 5 also shows the device in the closed position, as seen from a side, but with itsbase support sectioned to make more visible the lever, and its guided mobile pivots;

FIGURE 6 represents the same device as in FIGURE 5, with its support sectioned, but in the opened position;

FIGURES 7 and 8 represent respectively a side and a plan view of the other member forming the connecting device, and namely that which is applied to the other border to be joined, and which in this embodiment is the adjustable type.

FIGURE 9 represents a perspective view, with some parts broken away, and at a larger scale, of the connecting device forming the subject of the invention in a semi-opened position.

FIGURE 10 is also a partial perspective view of a device wherein the rack type tensioning member, articulated on the lever, is substituted by a hook integral with the inner end of the lever itself.

The embodiment of the tensioning and connecting device represented in the drawing has been chosen so as to enable it to be applied to the vamp borders of ski boots to constitute a binding; but evidently a device according to the invention may be utilized also for other applications such as for closing suitcases, bags, belts, purses and the like.

On the two opposite borders 10 and 10', that have to be drawn close together and connected together, there are mounted respectively, on one side, the support 11, formed by a plate 12, secured on the border 10 by rivets 26, passing through the holes 12, and, on the other side, the support 24 carrying the connecting loop 22. The support plate 12 has two shoulders 13 and 13', a groove, respectively 14 and 14 being provided on the inner face 3,292,222 Patented Dec. 20, 1966 of each shoulder 13, 13'. The width of this groove is such as to be enabled to receive with a certain play and a low to slide therien the small pivots 15 and 15', protruding from the two sides 16, 16', in the form of a triangle, of a lever 17, having a U-shaped transversal section, of the first class type, the resistance end 18 whereof carries pivotally mounted at 19 a rack type tensioning element 20 with slanted, hook-shaped teeth 21, wherein the intervals between the teeth are facing towards the mobile pivots 15. The hooks provided on the rack element 20 can be either on the upper or on the lower side of the tensioning element.

On the other border 10' there is applied the second member of the tensioning and connecting device, and namely the loop 22, pivoted at 23 on the support 24, protruding from the small plate 25, secured on the border 10' by means of rivets 26.

In FIGURES 1, 2 and 9, the second member, applied on the border 10', is not adjustable, and the adjustment, if required, has to be effected by choosing at will one of the notches 21 of the rack element 20 as a latch for the tensioning element 22. This second element might be replaced by an adjustable one, as represented in FIG- URES 7 and 8, wherein also the loop 22, instead of being pivoted directly at 23 on the protruding shoulders 24 of the small plate 25, presents an end 30, transversely bent in the shape of a C, so that the two arms of the C embrace slidably, without being able to fall oil, the tail 27 of the small plate 25, which tail extends almost as far as the end of the border 10', and has a series of openings 28, in each of which may fit in and engage therein a. tooth 29, protruding downwardly from the end 30 of the loop 22.

In FIGURE 10 there is represented in a perspective view a still simpler semi-open embodiment wherein the rack type tensioning element 20 of the preceding figures is replaced by a hook 31 obtained directly integral with the lower end 18 of the lever 17. On this hook 31 en gages the tensioning element 22, that in this embodiment shall have preferably to be of the adjustable type shown in FIGURES 7 and 8.

The operation of the tensioning and connecting device as described and illustrated is at once evident in particular from the FIGURES 9 and 10, representing two embodi ments of the device in a partially closed position. Indeed, the loop 22, pivoted in 23 on the small plate 25, is inserted in one of the notches 21 of the rack 20, when this is in the position shown in FIGURE 6. Hereafter, the lever 17 is raised by moving it in the direction of the arrow 32 and carried towards the right so that at a certain point it reaches the position shown in FIGURE 9, wherein the pair of small pivots 15 has moved about midway of the groove 14. By further lowering the lever 17, the rack 20 moves back to the left side, dragged away by the articulation 19, the small pivots 15 move further down, and the lever 17 snaps down on the loop 22, as shown in FIG- URES 1, 2 and 5.

As already stated, the teeth of the rack 20 represent a first possibility of adjustment. In FIGURES 7 and 8 the second possibility of adjustment is clearly evident; herein, before latching the loop 22 in one of the hooks 21, the loop 22 is lifted as far as required to disengage the tooth 29 (FIG. 7) from the slits 28, and the rear portion 30 of the loop 22 is made to slide back and forth to choose the most suitable among the slits 28 for the tensioning it is wanted for the device in the closed position. In the embodiment of FIGURE 10, since the lever has no adjustment possibility, having a single integral hook 31, the adjustment to be utilized will be the one shown in FIGURES 5 and 6.

Among the evident advantages alforded by this device as compared to those already known, besides its simple design, there is also the advantage that all the different parts may be made of pressure molded plastic material, without any additional diflicult machining. In fact the only piece to be added is the pivot 19 between the lever 17-18 and the rack 20. This however is avoided in the embodiment of FIGURE 10. The assembling of the lever 17 on one of the vamp borders is effected by inserting from the bottom the two small pivots 15, 15', in the grooves 14, 14 and then by applying the supprt12 on the border by means of the rivets 26.

The embodiment in which the rack is articulated on the lever 1718 at the point 19, represents a preferred one, but it is evident that the device does not change its nature if in the articulation 19 there is applied instead of a loop, while the rack may be applied on the second member, by articulating it in 23 on the support 25 of the other border.

The device as described supplies a lever that acts within minimum space and operates over the whole 180, from the fully open position (FIGURE 6) to the closed position (FIGURES 1, 2 and 5), with very few pieces, that is: the supporting basis 12 and the lever 17', with the rack 20, on one side; the supporting basis 25 and the loop 22 on the other side, while previously, in order to obtain a 180 rotation it was necessary to haverecourse to a third articulated element between the lever 17 and the articulation with the tensioning element 20.

An additional advantage of the device 'as described consists in the fact that the two parts of which it is constituted, one applied to one border, and the other to the other border, are drawn close together during the closing operation, with absolutely equal travels, what allows especially in the instance of boots, a closing with a minimum effort and pressure, a part of the elfort being absorbed by the vertical movement of the mobile fulcrum 15'.

Another advantage of the device according to the invention is that the \lever is placed about in the front center-line of the uppers and that in its closed position it remains protected from outside stresses, so that for instance in case of its application to ski boots, if the skier, during a down-hill run should stumble upon foreign bodies, the .lever device remains unaffected and closed, preventing the known disastrous consequences of the unintentional opening of the levers and a loosening of the .boot. This last advantage derives from the fact that in the present device the lever is being closed by means of a reverse tension in respect to all other levers so far available in the trade, and that its free end lies just on the front centerline of the instep.

4 To sum up, the advantageous features of the new device are:

Minimum size, reverse tension, minimum effort and. pressure, absence of projections vulnerable by foreign said grooves, said lever having side walls substantially. parallel to and located between said shoulders, said pins extending from said side walls, a pivot carried by said side walls remote from said pins; a hook member connected to said pivot between said walls, said lever haw ing a handle portion on the opposite side of said pins from said pivot, said hook member extending toward the 1 other body, the other body having a member thereon engageable with said hook member.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said other body has an elongated part secured thereto at one point 1 and projecting from said point toward said fiat member and having openings spaced therealong, said hook-engaging member comprising a C-shaped part surrounding said elongated part, a projection engageable in said holes and t a loop part engageable with the hook member.

3. In a device as claimed in claim 1, said base being curved and said hook member \having a curved lower edge engageable with and slidable on the base member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,314,270 3/1943 Elliott 2470X 2,562,355 7/1951 Grant 24206 X 3,132,392 5/1964 Steinberg 2470 3,182,366 5/1965 Teufel 24I68 3,224,118 12/1965 Teufel 3650 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,348,377 12/1963 France.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner. MILTON S. MEHR, Examiner. 

1. TENSIONING AND CONNECTING DEVICE OF THE LEVER ACTUATED TYPE FOR JOINING TOGETHER TWO BODIES TO BE UNITED, COMPRISING A BASE MEMBER ATTACHED TO ONE OF SAID BODIES HAVING SPACED SHOULDERS PROJECTING UPWARDLY THEREFROM HAVING ON THEIR INNER FACES GROOVES EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR WITH RESPECT TO THE BASE MEMBER, A LEVER HAVING PINS ON OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF ENGAGING IN SAID GROOVES, SAID LEVER HAVING SIDE WALLS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO AND LOCATED BETWEEN SAID SHOULDERS, SAID PINS EXTENDING FROM SAID SIDE WALLS, A PIVOT CARRIED BY SAID SIDE WALLS REMOTE FROM SAID PINS; A HOOK MEMBER CONNECTED TO SAID PIVOT BETWEEN SAID WALLS, SAID LEVER HAVING A HANDLE PORTION ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID PINS FROM SAID PIVOT, SAID HOOK MEMBER EXTENDING TOWARD THE OTHER BODY, THE OTHER BODY HAVING A MEMBER THEREON ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID HOOK MEMBER. 